Grace McNicol’s lifelong delight in walking and hiking helped her achieve feats considered impossible by many. At the age of 62, she moved to Tennessee and began climbing Mount Le Conte, a 6,593-foot mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She overcame a broken back, two strokes, and other personal hardships to climb the mountain a record 244 times. This revised and expanded volume includes photos, diary entries, andGracie’s Wildflower Notebook, which contains entries compiled during the year she made her 200th climb. This inspirational biography chronicles the uplifting life and achievements of a remarkable woman.

"In print for the first time in fifty years, Mount Le Conte is a reissue of the important 1966 self-published memoir by Paul J. Adams (1901-1985), a well-known Tennessee naturalist and the first custodian of the Smoky Mountain's majestic summit in the years before the area was declared a national park. Appointed custodian of Mount Le Conte in 1925 by the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, Adams went to work immediately and spent a year making the camp suitable for overnight visitors. Mount Le Conte, a massive mile-high formation extending five miles from the main divide of the Great Smoky Mountains, with its rugged landscapes, rushing streams, and fecund forests, was considered a prime showplace in efforts to establish the Smokies as a national park. In addition to an extensive introduction, the editors have augmented the original text of Mount Le Conte with several photographs and sketches gleaned from Adams's personal papers, resulting in a fuller, more complex reconstruction of Adams's role in establishing the camp that would later come to be known as Le Conte Lodge. An important source on the fascinating history of Mount Le Conte in the pre-Park era, this book is a companion to the recently published Smoky Jack: the Adventures of a Dog and His Master on Mount Le Conte." -- Provided by publisher.

Widely regarded as the crown jewel of the Great Smoky Mountains, Mount Le Conte harbors the greatest concentration of notable geological features in all of the Smokies. This unique book tells the history of the mountain, offering visitors a greater appreciation of its scenic splendor. Kenneth Wise and Ron Petersen combine their intimate knowledge of Le Conte with a wealth of scientific and historical information. Following introductory coverage of the mountain's geologic history and human exploration, they follow the six main trails up the mountain--Alum Cave, Bullhead, Rainbow Falls, Trillium Gap, Brushy Mountain, and Boulevard--and reveal each one to be not merely a path but a rich source of historical and personal testimony. A final chapter covers the distinguishing features of the summit itself. Along each route, the authors explain how the trail was developed and provide historic background for well-known landmarks, from Inspiration Point to Huggins Hell. They offer informative descriptions of the plants and wildlife indigenous to Mount Le Conte as well as observations on the effects of environmental changes on the landscape. The book is illustrated with dozens of photographs, many of historic interest. Also included is a fold-out vista map of ten panoramas visible along the way, indicating the notable features that can be seen from each vantage point. The Authors: Kenneth Wise is an administrator at the University of Tennessee library and the author of Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains: A Comprehensive Guide. Ron Petersen is a distinguished professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Ron Petersen and Kenneth Wise combine their intimate knowledge of Mount LeConte with a wealth of scientific and historical information. Following the six main trails up the mountain--Alum Cave, Bullhead, Rainbow Falls, Trillium Gap, Brushy Mountain, and Boulevard--they tell how each was developed and provide historic notes and descriptions for well-known landmarks, from Inspiration Point to Huggins Hell. They also point out a host of interesting features about plants and wildlife and offer observations on effects of environmental changes on the landscape. The text is enhanced by dozens of photographs, many of historic interest. Also included with the book is a fold-out vista map containing drawings of eight panoramas visible from the summit, indicating the geologic features that can be seen from each vantage point. Whether you're viewing LeConte from the Lodge or hiking its slopes, this book will enhance your enjoyment of this crown jewel of the Smokies. A Natural History of Mount LeConte is unlike any other book available on this magnificent mountain. It shows that history and natural history are two sides of the same coin and will make visiting or hiking the peak a more rewarding experience.

"In 1925, Paul Adams was appointed custodian of Mount Le Conte, the third-highest peak of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His job was to welcome tourists, give guided tours, and establish a camp that would become known as LeConte Lodge, which still stands in what has become America's most popular national park. Adams had everything he needed for the job: a passion for the outdoors, a love of hiking, a desire to preserve the native habitat while welcoming visitors, and the companionship of a remarkable dog. During his time on the mountains, Adams trained Smoky Jack to be a pack-dog -- not just carrying supplies but actually making the four-hour trip to the store in Gatlinburg and back alone. Throughout Smoky Jack, readers gain a unique glimpse into the early days of the Great Smoky Mountains region during the decade before it was name[d] a national park in 1934. Adams describes the trials and triumphs he and the indomitable German shepherd faced as they exemplified the ancient relationship between man and dog on Mount Le Conte, building trails, guiding visitors, and making a life in nature." -- Provided by publisher.

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.

"Harvey Broome was an early, indefatigable friend of the Great Smokies whose book combines an eloquent interpretation of the seasons of life they nurture with the urgent message that their conservation remains perpetually relevant. At once poetic and practical, Harvey Broome takes us into his Great Smokies and shows us that they are also ours, a unique treasure of endless discovery."--Wilma Dykeman, Tennessee State Historian "It is a seminal work and is 'must reading' for anyone seriously interested in the early interpretation of the Great Smoky Mountains."--Arthur McDade, author of The Natural Arches of the Big South Fork First published in a limited edition in 1975 by the author's widow and now available in paperback for the first time, Out Under the Sky of the Great Smokies brings together the personal journals of a great environmentalist and nature writer. The book combines descriptions of Broome's innumerable hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains with extended meditations on the meaning of the mountains to the region as a whole. It is at once a historical document, preserving a perspective on the Smokies before full-scale development of the national park, and a work whose message about the importance of the environment is even more timely today than when it first appeared. In a foreword written especially for this edition, the noted environmental writer Michael Frome describes the book as "a timeless work," adding, "Here we find Harvey, the wilderness apostle on his home turf. He reveals himself exactly as I knew and loved him: a gentle spirit, sensitive to the needs of nature and humankind, always with tolerance and good humor." The Author: Harvey Broome (1902-1968) was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and discovered the Great Smoky Mountain at an early age. An attorney, he helped found the Wilderness Society and served as president of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club. He was the author of two other posthumously published books, Faces of the Wilderness and Harvey Broome: Earth Man.

Map has titles: Great Smoky Mountains trail map; Great Smoky Mountains hiking map.